The Alligator

Short Story Day 19 of 365

Thad’s mother-in-law had been staying with him and his wife ever since the pandemic started. Each family shared household expenses but kept their distances within the house itself.

Not given to flashy talk or overstatement, Mrs. V, as Thad called her, shuffled into Thad’s office and said in a monotone, “There’s an alligator in my shower.” She didn’t look frightened nor did she seem like it was an urgent need.

Thad looked over at Mrs. V. and squinted. He blinked and shook his head.

“Did you just say you saw an alligator in your shower?”

Mrs. V. nodded.

Thad and his wife dropped what they were doing and ran to the opposite side of the house. An alligator in this part of Texas wasn’t unheard of but in a shower? How’d it get there? How’d it get in? Better yet, how to get it out? Thad grabbed a broom along the way, as if that was going to solve anything. Would he sweep it to death or sweep it just under the rug?

Thad led the way and flung open the see through shower door. Nothing apparent. Just as he was ready to look elsewhere in the bathroom, his wife said, “There it is, Thad, near the soap dish.”

Thad laughed and walked over to the alligator, picked it up by its tail, made a bee line to the door, and let it loose on the ground outside.

“Mrs. V., your two-inch gecko, er, alligator is outside now,” Thad shouted down the hall. “It’s okay to come take your shower.”

“Thank you, Thad,” Mrs. V. said. “Had me worried for a moment. I thought we’d have to call animal control or something.”

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